The most common question I’ve gotten since signing up for the World Race is “WHY?”Let me try and explain what's going on inside my heart. I’ve been a believer for as long as I can remember but my passion for missions started seven years ago. I had just become a part of a new church family and they were beginning preparations for a mission trip to Mexico. I was really excited about the chance to go. After several hours of begging, mom allowed one of my younger brothers to go as well. Out of all my siblings I think he understands my heart for this the most. While in Mexico we divided into two teams to build two houses in a week. Manual labor sure has a way of stretching a team. We laughed, we cried, we sang, we played with sweet children, we made memories, and we showed love. That trip forever changed me. The seed was planted and the stirring began…
(Our team with the family and their newly built home)
Fast forward a few years. I was asked to go on a vision trip to Ethiopia with a few others to see how our church could partner with the missionaries there. I fell in love with a new culture; a different culture. We visited schools. We traveled out into the country where families lived in huts and had never seen their own reflection in a mirror let alone a picture. We learned about a soccer project designed to reach out to youth. We learned about a project that reached out to widows by teaching them how to provide for themselves through raising goats and selling the milk. And finally we learned some about the struggles women have with sex trafficking. I knew I wanted to come back because the week and a half that we spent there just wasn’t long enough. I made plans to move there for a year and it unfortunately didn’t work out to be the right thing. My heart was still heavy though for serving the least of these…
(Beautiful children we met in Ethiopia)
About three years ago, after getting some guidance from close friends (and mentors), I found the perfect opportunity. I moved to the Dominican Republic and served in an orphanage playing with precious children and teaching English. My heart melted so fast for these children. I woke up every day saying this is it. This is where I belong. This is why God made me. Everyone made fun of me because every day was “the best day ever.” I met some sweet ladies while I was there. It was my wonderful roommate and friend Heather who introduced me to the World Race and that’s when it began. We spent hours reading blogs from people we didn’t even know. Who would’ve thought that one day we’d both take on the World Race adventure?
(A few of my sweet angels from the orphanage)
And here we are today. Trying to prepare my heart for everything God wants to show me in the months to come. It’s going to be a crazy, hard, fun, chaotic, beautiful time in my life and I am so excited for what’s to come.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widowsin their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. ~James 1:27
